I was startled to run across such a tangle of horns in Z-Man's gallery this morning - but even more shocked to see the old Ontonagon water tower topple. There's a wealth of U.P. news and oddities growing in the Pasty Cam Guest Gallery, with so many new sights every day, it's hard to keep up.

When I checked in with Pasty Central Tuesday afternoon, they told me the pasties were flowing again from Calumet! Guess they had a few hundred yummy delights picked up by Fedex and UPS, as shipments got underway this week. When you order pasties for delivery next week, be sure to trow in some "Toivo and Eino's Really Secret Pasty Sauce", and also a 2004 Yooper Calendar!

Well, I'm scheduled to finally fly outta here on Saturday, making the switch at the airport with the proud new owner of the old beater. In the meantime, gonna check out some local views of Mt. McKinley and the glaciers south of here. Hope your September is off to a good start, too.

Look's like i get to be the first post of the day.
Good morning from the west coast!

Very nice post Sir.........to get that close to the horned breed in the wilderness is quite a challenge.
Regards,
Donn

Good morning from Pittsburgh, Kevin. To qoute CCR, "Stuck in ol' Lodi again" heh?

I hear ya, Mike B.

I hear ya, Mike B.If you've never been to Lodi you can't begin to imagine.

I was sorry to see Ontonagon lose it's watertower to progress. It was a sad day in Painesdale when the water tower there was torn down. The watertowers were landmarks for their town that could be seen from great distances. Another piece of history hits the dust.....

I really hate to admit I don't know if this is a deer or elk or moose or what....I know it's a big buck......but....( is there something wierd about his antlers)??.....can you guess I am not a hunter???

Mary Lou, my guess would be maybe he is rubbing them against what looks like a stick? I hear about deer rubs from the hunters in my house but I do not know if it is the season for whatever this elk-like animal to rub or not.

I'm right there with you Mary Lou! My guess is moose, but I'm far from certain!

Can anyone tell us exactly what species this critter belongs to?

It looks like an ELK to me????

It looks like an Elk with a deformed (or atypical) rack. He also seems to have a hunk of wood stuck in his antlers. Now I'm wondering Z-Man where in Michigan did you find this guy? He certainly is... well, interesting to say the least! I just posted a couple photos I took on Labor Day in Rocky Mountain National Park here in Colorado. We were fishing for Brookies and a magnificent Bull stepped out of the brush right by us. I was lucky enough to get a couple photos before he moved away. and yes, the fishing was very good... I love September!

Dave: This guy was found at the Root Cellar bar located on the southeast side of Lake Gogebic. They have a elk Game Refuge there. That is not a piece of wood that is his antlers, mighty ugly ones at that.

Z-Man:
Wow! that poor creature... Elk are so beautiful in the wild and he looks so homely... Maybe he will grow a nice rack next year...

Yeah that is not a very nice rack. The ones here at Grand Canyon are so beautiful. They are in our yard alot. Their racks are just so perfectly formed. I was also wondering where the picture was taken, because I am from the Copper City area and I knew that elk were not normally found up there. But Z-man answered that question for us.

Ahh the elusive Elk, or "Cervus Canadensis", what the Shawnee called "Wapiti" meaning "white rump". A creature of greater sublimity one would find difficult to cognominate indeed. A fine treat for the palate also. Kudos on the fine shot of nature's anomalies.

Love the smirk on his face! Z-man - great shot!

When I looked at it, I assumed the deer/elk/whatever had had a run-in with another guy of the same species and came out the winner. (Wouldn't that hurt to have your antler ripped off?)

He looks like a cow with antlers to me! Where's The Beef!

Mr. Wheatman
What?

Carolyn, I see elk often backa Copper City. They too are in a pen. Haven't seen any racks on 'em though.

At first glance at the pictures, from the look of the elk's rack I assumed he had knocked down the water tower!!

Well the closing went fine today, now I am in debt to my back end and I hope it was worth it as I could have bought a house outright for what the down payment cost me on this one. Someday we will move home.

It looks like a Moose to me, but what do I know there wern't any in the 60's when I lived there.

Take that back, buck deer as the rack is not right for a moose.

Great picture! Next month at this time,we will be in the UP! I can hardly wait!

I enjoyed playing the Ontonagon water tower slideshow in reverse. Much better seeing it rise than fall. Hey 'dlp in Painesdale', I know you have a piece of that Painesdale water tower so it is not completely gone. Keep the faith!

I think Wheatman is spending a bit too much time with Merriam-Webster!

Elk have no mirrors. We should be so lucky.

No one in our group of "wild-life savvy" Yoopers really seems to know what this odd looking buck is.....Could it be a cross between a native deer and a moose (recently introduced into the UP)....is that possible????..wouldn't that explain the weird rack of antlers...they seem to not know which way to go..up like a whitetail buck or down like a moose.....are there any biologists out there who could tell us????....I think this buck survived deer season because noone could figure out what he is.....poor fellow may not be beautiful but he is interesting and he looks lonely..maybe we should adopt him as our mascot and name him "Charlie" or "Toivo".

It's an elk, as mentioned above, with a non-typical rack which is not that uncommon. A picture with some perspective would show it would dwarf a large whitetail deer, so there would be no doubt of it's species.

Dear Traprock farmer,
this is Carolyn. Where back of Copper City are there elk in a pen? I sure would like to know.

to:Traprock "farmer"(har,har)Open your eyes,there are five racks in that pen.

That would be an elk alright. A male...(a bull that is). That hint of blood on the antler could be left from recently shedding his velvet.

Im A usta be yooper. the animal with horns on looks darn good during hunting season. But I bet its tasty better then it looks.